Characterization of via holes on printed circuit boards

Abstract

When high speed digital signals propagate on printed circuit boards (PCBs), all the on board discontinuities are a concern for the electronic designers. Among them, the via holes, allowing the signals to jump from an external PCB layer to an internal one, are of paramount importance. The paper compares the transmission performances of three different kind of single ended and differential vias (through, blind and buried), providing the better solution for propagating high speed digital signals on a multi-layer PCB.